2. THE SPANISH INDIAN POLICY AFTER 1762
From this time the Caddo tribes were under Spanish control; therefore the outcome of the Indians will be largely determined by the Spanish Indian policy. The three fundamental purposes of the early Spanish policy were to convert the natives to the Christian faith, to civilize them, and to use them in the development of the frontier. In order to accomplish these desires the encomienda system was devised. It was soon learned that before the savage could be civilized, converted, or made a useful being, he must first be controlled. To provide such control, the land and Indians were distributed among the colonizers who held them in trust, or in encomienda. It was the duty of the trustee to provide for the protection, the conversion, and the civilization of his subjects; in return he was given the privilege to exploit them. The encomendero, or guardian, was required to support friars, whose duty it was to instruct the Indians in the Christian religion, in citizenship, and in the industrial arts. This plan led to the establishing of great monasteries in the territory conquered by the Spanish colonizers.
It was also learned that in order to instruct and exploit the Indian properly, he must be made to remain in a specified place of residence. Thus it soon became a law that Indians must be congregated in pueblos, and kept there by force if necessary. The encomienda system was so badly abused that it placed the Indians in a state of slavery. The trustees, yielding to the desire of the flesh, thought only of the usefulness of the natives in terms of dollars and cents. They disregarded the primary objects for which the system was designed; to convert and civilize the natives. The encomienda system was gradually replaced by the missions. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries many missions were planted on the expanding frontiers of Spanish America. These missions were in the hands of priests whose first duty was to teach the Christian religion to the heathen, and to teach the Spanish language and civilization. The missionaries were not only religious agents but they also served as political agents for Spain. They explored the frontiers, promoted their occupation, de fended them and the interior settlements from foreign influences and savage tribes, and often served as diplomatic agents. The Spanish Indian policy prior to the Louisiana cession, although tinged with mercenary aspirations, was designed for the preservation of the Indians rather than for their destruction.
In 1762 France ceded Louisiana to Spain but the transaction was not complete]y carried into effect until 1769.l7 The Indians were very angry when they learned of the treaty of cession. They did not believe that the King of France had a right to transfer them to any white or red chief in the world, and to dispose of them like cattle; thus they threatened resistance to the execution of the treaty.
Spain now had a new Indian problem. She had the difficult task of winning the loyalty of the Indian tribes that had been living peaceably under the influence of the French in the contested territory. The new policy adopted was similar to that employed by the French, a "method of control," Bolton says, "Through the fur trades and presents, a good many modifications in the directions of greater equity for the white men and greater humanity to ward the natives.